GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS ACTION GRANTS 2019 - Europa EU
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JUSTICE PROGRAMME & RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CITIZENSHIP PROGRAMME GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS ACTION GRANTS 2019 Please note that this Guide helps you to prepare your proposal and does not supersede the rules described in the relevant topic and call for proposals.
History of changes
Version Date Change Page
1.0 15/01/2019 First version
1.1 23/03/2019 Budget Description of column H – receipts 12
6.6 – eligibility criteria. Correction of eligibility rule for 19
international organisations.
Contents 1. Definitions ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 2. Foreword_____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5 3. Preparation of proposals ____________________________________________________________________________ 6 4. Project Application Form (Part A) __________________________________________________________________ 11 5. Project Application Form (Part B) __________________________________________________________________ 14 6. Evaluation of proposals _____________________________________________________________________________ 19 7. Roles and Responsibilities towards the Commission ______________________________________________ 23 8. Contact and Assistance _____________________________________________________________________________ 25
1. Definitions
APPLICANT the organisation submitting the proposal. Depending on the requirements of each topic, the
Applicant may submit an application on its own, or in partnership with other organisations, referred to as
Partners. Applicant and Partners may be referred together as applicants or participants.
AFFILIATED ENTITY an organisation that has a link with the Applicant/Partner, in particular a capital or legal
link, which is not limited to the action or established for the sole purpose of implementing the action. The
affiliated entity is NOT a Partner unless indicated in the proposal as such.
BENEFICIARY/BENEFICIARIES organisation(s) that receive(s) EU co-funding either directly or indirectly via the
coordinator following successful application in one of the EU's funding programmes and signature of the related
grant agreement (during the application process reference is made to the "Applicant(s))".
COORDINATOR when an application is submitted on behalf of more than one entity and a grant is awarded, the
Applicant becomes the Coordinator (and referred to as such in the relevant multi-beneficiary Grant Agreement
and any project-related documentation). The Coordinator receives a mandate from all beneficiaries participating
in the project to act on their behalf. This mandate is the "Accession form" signed by each beneficiary (these
forms should not be uploaded at submission stage).
PARTNER is the organisation that, in cooperation with the Applicant, participate in designing the project
activities and the partnership that submits the application. The Partner aims to receive Union co-financing for
the costs it incurs during the implementation of the project. 1
NON-PROFIT ORGANISATION shall be:
a legal entity that is by its legal form non-profit-making; or
a legal entity which has a legal or statutory obligation not to distribute profits to its shareholders or
individual members. The provision that profits will not be distributed must be clearly stipulated either in
the law or in the statutes of the organisation; decisions on (not) distributing profits made by its managing
board, associates, stakeholders, members or representatives are not sufficient proof of the non-profit
nature.
PUBLIC BODY any legal entity established as a public body by national law or an international organisation,
meaning (N.B. both conditions must be fulfilled):
incorporated as a public body in the act of creation, or recognised as a public body by national law; and
governed by public law.
1Please note that zero cost beneficiaries, i.e. beneficiaries who do not request funding from the EU but take
part in implementing the project are considered as regular partners.
3INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS are entities established by formal political agreements between their
members that have the status of international treaties; the law in member states recognises their existence.
They are not treated as resident institutional units of the countries in which they are located. See also Article
156 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on
the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union.
EU LOGIN the European Commission's Authentication Service. It is the system for logging on to a whole range
of websites and online services run by the Commission. Applicants and partners will need to set up an EU Login
account if they want to apply for funding on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal.
FUNDING & TENDER OPPORTUNITIES PORTAL the website hosting the information about finding and
securing funding for the Justice Programme (2014-2020), the REC Programme (2014-2020), the Horizon 2020
and other EU funding programmes.
LEGAL ENTITY APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVE (LEAR) is the appointed representative within the beneficiary
organisation. He/she is authorised to manage all the organisation-related data on the Funding & Tender
Opportunities portal and appoints representatives within the organisation to electronically sign grant
agreements for individual projects or financial statements for project costs.
MONO-BENEFICIARY GRANT AGREEMENT a grant agreement signed for projects where one single entity
(the Beneficiary) implements a project and enters in a contractual relationship with the Commission.
MULTI-BENEFICIARY GRANT AGREEMENT (MGA) a grant agreement where more than one beneficiary
implement a project. By signing the agreement, the beneficiaries accept the grant and agree to implement the
action under their responsibility and in accordance with the agreement with all the obligations and conditions
that the latter sets out.
PARTICIPANT IDENTIFICATION CODE (PIC NUMBER) a 9-digit participant identification code, received upon
completing the registration of the entity online.
PARTICIPANT REGISTER is the European Commission's online register of the beneficiaries participating in the
Justice Programme, the REC Programme, the Horizon 2020 and other programmes. This allows consistent
handling of beneficiaries' official data and avoids multiple requests for the same information.
42. Foreword
2.1 This Guide applies to calls for proposals for action grants under the Annual Work Programmes 2019 of the
Justice Programme, the Rights Equality and Citizenship Programme (REC) and the 2019 pilot projects and
preparatory actions managed by Directorate-General Justice and Consumers of the European Commission
published on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal.
2.2 This Guide is designed to help you prepare your proposal. It provides the necessary information for
preparing and submitting your application, but does not supersede the rules and conditions laid out in the
following documents:
Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on
the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No
1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No
1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, hereafter referred to in this document as the Financial
Regulation;
Regulation (EU) No 1382/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
establishing a Justice Programme for the period 2014 to 2020, hereafter referred to in this document as
Regulation No 1382/2013;
Regulation (EU) No 1381/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013
establishing a Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme for the period 2014-2020, hereafter referred to
in this document as Regulation No 1381/2013;
Commission Implementing Decision of 29 November 2018 concerning the adoption of the work
programme for 2019 and the financing for the implementation of the Justice Programme (C(2018) 7926),
hereafter referred to in this document as the Work Programme 2019;
Commission Implementing Decision of 29 November 2018 concerning the adoption of the work
programme for 2019 and the financing for the implementation of the Rights, Equality and Citizenship
Programme (C(2018) 7916), hereafter referred to in this document as the Work Programme 2019;
The relevant topic and call for proposals for action grants 2019;
The multi-beneficiary grant agreement in this Guide will be referred to as the Model grant agreement or
MGA;2 or the mono-beneficiary action model grant agreement from hereafter.
The European Commission will be referred to as the Commission in this Guide from hereafter.
2 References in this Guide relate to the MGA. The mono-beneficiary model grant agreement contains similar
provisions as the MGA.
53. Preparation of proposals
3.1 This section outlines the preparatory steps you need to take before submitting a proposal as well as key
information about the process. Calls for proposals under the Justice and REC Programmes are processed
under the Electronic Submission System.
3.2 The online system enables you to save successive versions of your application. The Commission encourages
you to download the template documents, to create a draft proposal in the electronic submission system,
and to work with the system as you go along.
Note:
The Applicant may submit more than one application under each topic (exception: restricted calls) and may be
awarded more than one grant under each topic. An organisation may participate as an Applicant or Partner in
several applications.
However only one application will be accepted and evaluated for any given project. In case there are several
applications for the same project, the Applicant will be asked to clarify which application shall be evaluated.
PRIOR TO COMMENCING THE SUBMISSION PROCESS
3.3 Verify whether your organisation and partners meet the eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria,
presented under each topic on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal.
3.4 Check whether your planned activities are in line with the priorities, eligible activities and expected results
of a particular call for proposals.
3.5 This can be done by reviewing the following documentation:
Topic description and topic conditions on the call webpage on the Funding & Tender Opportunities
portal;
The relevant Justice or REC Annual Work Programme 2019;
Model grant agreement (mono- or multi-beneficiary); and
The Annex on Financial Provisions.
CREATE AN EU LOGIN USER ACCOUNT
3.6 Participants (Applicant and Partners) must have an EU Login account. Information on how to create an EU
Login account is available under the HOW TO PARTICIPATE tab on the Funding & Tender Opportunities
portal.
3.7 EU Login steps are as follows:
If you do not have a user account already, click on 'REGISTER' (in the upper right corner next to 'LOGIN')
and register online.
6 If you already have a user account, directly log in (click on 'LOGIN' in the upper right corner) and start
entering the required information.
REGISTER YOUR ORGANISATION IN THE PARTICIPANT REGISTER
3.8 The Commission has an online register of organisations participating in various EU programmes called the
Participant Register. After creating the EU login, you (including all Partners) need to register your
organisation in the Commission's Participant Register.
N.B. An organisation should only register once in the Participant Register, so the following instructions only
apply if you do not find your organisation in the register.
3.9 Participant Register steps are as follows:
If you do not find your organisation in the register, you should start the registration by clicking on
'REGISTER YOUR ORGANISATION'. Please note that you do not need to complete the registration
process in a single session (incomplete registrations automatically delete themselves after one year).
You will need to upload information about your entity legal status and finances. These documents are
essential to check the eligibility of participants and financial capacity of the Applicant/coordinator.
The person who registers the organisation is the 'self-registrant'. They can update and correct the data
and upload documents on the My Organisations page of the My Area section throughout the
application process.
Once your registration is finalised, you will receive a PIC number. You will need the PIC numbers of the
Applicant and all other Partners in order to complete the Part A section of your application
(administrative and budget information).
Please keep the details of the 'self-registrant' updated. If the 'self-registrant' leaves the organisation,
contact the IT helpdesk in order to modify the contact details of the 'self-registrant'.
7 If the registered organisation is selected to receive EU funding, the LEAR will replace the ‘self-
registrant’. The LEAR will be the only person able to provide further updates.
KEY INFORMATION ABOUT THE SUBMISSION PROCESS
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
The deadline for submission is on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal under each topic.
Although the Electronic Submission system enables you to update the proposal at any time, you will not be
able to make any amendments or additions after the deadline.
If you miss the call deadline, your proposal will not be considered as submitted.
You should not send your proposal by post/e-mail to the Commission, please use only the Electronic
Submission system.
We advise that you do not wait until the last day of the deadline to submit your proposal. This will
significantly increase the risk of a last minute problems blocking your submission. It is highly recommended
to test the submission of your proposal at least 48 hours in advance in order to have time to clear any
possible technical difficulties that might arise.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT
The date and time you submitted the application will be automatically recorded and an acknowledgement
e-mail will be sent to the Applicant organisation as proof of receipt.
If you do not receive an e-mail with the acknowledgement of receipt, it is because the proposal has not
been submitted.
Note:
The Electronic Submission system will carry out basic verification checks for completeness of the proposal;
internal data consistency, virus infections, and size limitations etc.
The system will also check page limits in specific parts of the proposal and, if necessary, suggest that you shorten
it (excess pages of Part B Project description will not be evaluated).
8SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
You should ensure that the correct document is uploaded (in PDF format) under the respective categories.
Errors in this process can result in an inadmissible proposal and may jeopardise your entire application.
Therefore, before closing the application procedure or logging-off, double-check if the content of your PDF
documents matches the given categories in the online submission tool.
Once the proposal is submitted, the Applicant will receive the acknowledgement e-mail but will not hear
from the Commission until the proposal has been evaluated, unless the Commission:
o needs to contact the Applicant to clarify matters such as eligibility; and/or
o requests more information or supporting documents related to evaluation against award criteria;
and/or
o needs to respond to a complaint made by the Applicant regarding the submission procedure.
Note:
The Commission should finalise evaluations of the submitted proposals within 6 months from the deadline for
submission. Additional 3 months shall be counted for grant agreement preparation for the successful applicants.
(Total: 9 months from the submission deadline).
LANGUAGES
Proposals may be drafted in any official language of the European Union. However, to facilitate the
evaluation, the Commission advises Applicants to draft Part A and B of their proposals in English.
HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT
If you believe that submission failed due to a fault in the Electronic Submission system, immediately file a
complaint via the Helpdesk on the Funding & Tender Opportunities portal, explaining the circumstances and
attaching a copy of the proposal.
The method for filing a complaint is explained in the information you receive via the electronic exchange
system (see ‘MY AREA’ section of the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal).
DATA PROTECTION
All personal data included in the application submitted via the Electronic Submission system will be
processed by the Commission under Regulation No 2018/1725 and submitted to the Commission’s Data
Protection Officer.
A privacy statement included in Part A informs all data subjects whose data are to be processed in the
context of the proposal evaluation and ensuing grant agreement preparation, implementation and follow
up.
Applicants are invited to check the Legal Notice page at regular intervals to be duly informed of possible
updates by the deadline for submission of their proposals.
9 Organisations are also required to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation that entered into
application in May 2018. Please refer to the guidance on the application of the Regulation, particularly on
what an organisation must do to comply with EU data protection rules.
For guidance on the application of the GDPR, you may consult the guidelines of the European Data
Protection Board and/or contact the competent national data protection.
GENERAL GUIDANCE BEFORE DRAFTING YOUR PROPOSAL
Call for proposals is a competitive process. Even a good proposal with one weak element may lead to a
negative evaluation, resulting in the Applicant not being recommended for EU funding.
With this in mind, we advise that you check your proposal includes all the relevant information, because
only the content submitted will be evaluated.
In addition to this, you must use the Part B template provided for the second half of your proposal.
Good proposals are clear and are easy to understand and follow; they are accurate and concise, focusing on
substance and avoid mixing quality with quantity elements.
APPLICATION STRUCTURE
A project application is composed of three parts:
Part A: includes the administrative information and the estimated budget;
Part B: comprises of the technical content of the proposal (max. 45 pages); and
Annexes 1 – 5: additional information to be submitted
104. Project Application Form (Part A)
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
4.1 This section comprises of fields for general information, checklists, estimated budget and declarations. You
should complete this directly via the online submission tool. It is divided into three sections:
SECTION 1: GENERAL INFORMATION (INCLUDING DECLARATIONS)
4.2 In this section, you must provide:
- The project Acronym;
- Proposal Title;
- Duration (in months);
- Free Keywords that relate to the objectives of the proposal, e.g. Hate crime, Racism, Discrimination,
women, children, rights; and
- An abstract3 (max. 2000 characters with spaces) explaining:
o Context and overall objectives;
o Work planned and main achievements;
o Results and impacts.
4.3 The abstract will be used in the evaluation process and for communication purposes should a project be
awarded EU funding. Therefore, we suggest that you do not include any confidential or commercial
information, use plain text, avoiding formulae and other special characters.
Declarations:
4.4 There are self-declarations that the Applicant needs to confirm. As some of them need to be checked on
behalf of the Partners, they should be reviewed with them before confirming. Please see Part A Template
for the declarations themselves.
SECTION 2: ADMINISTRATIVE DATA OF PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS
4.5 The Applicant will include the PIC code for its organisation and every other participant (see instructions
under paragraph 3.9 in this Guide). Parts of the administrative data will fill automatically after inputting the
PIC code.
4.6 Following this, the Applicant will be required to fill in the contact details (including e-mails) for every
participant. If the information is not completed, it will not be possible to submit the proposal.
3
See also Project Summary in Part B.
11SECTION 3: BUDGET FOR THE PROPOSAL
4.7 The Applicant must fill in the budget table. Details for each column are contained in Table 1 and an example
of the budget table is in Figure 1 below.
In the budget table:
White cells need to be filled by the Applicant;
Grey cells will be automatically calculated by the system or are not applicable;
Indirect costs are calculated automatically as 7 % of the total direct costs.
Each row represents the total estimated expenditure and total income for each partner.
N.B. Please refer to Articles 5 and 6 of the MGA and the Annex on Financial Provisions for a detailed
description and the calculation methods of these eligible cost items.
Table 1: The Budget Overview Table in Part A - Column descriptions
Column Description
A direct personnel cost;
B.1 & B.2 direct costs of travel and subsistence;
C direct costs of subcontracting;
D direct costs for providing financial support (to third parties) is not applicable to the calls covered by this
Guide and is therefore greyed out;
E other direct costs including costs for equipment, consumables, conferences, publications and other goods
and services, as long as they are not considered as subcontracting;
F indirect costs i.e. calculated as 7 % of the total direct costs. However, organisations receiving operating
grants from the EU cannot claim indirect costs if it overlaps or occurs at the same time as the action grant. If
you are in this situation, you should signal it in your final report;
G total costs: the sum of Columns A to F. The total amount represents the estimated
costs of the action indicated in Article 5.1 of the MGA, if the proposal is retained for funding;
H receipts: to project generated income (e.g. participation fees, book sales) and third parties contributions.
N.B. The applicants’ own contribution do not need to be indicated in the estimated budget.
I reimbursement rate: maximum EU co-financing rate
J maximum EU contribution: total costs (G) x maximum EU contribution. Calculated automatically.
K EU contribution requested for the action: the breakdown per partner is indicative and its final distribution
remains the responsibility of the project participants.
The EU contribution requested by a beneficiary may be zero or if non-zero may have a reimbursement rate
above or below the maximum defined for the topic as long as overall for the action and the total EU
contribution requested respects the maximum reimbursement rate.
12Figure 1: The Budget Overview Table in part A and Descriptions
OTHER BUDGETARY INFORMATION:
4.8 Errors: The Electronic Submission system performs specific checks once you validate the submission form. If
there is an error, a message will appear if:
The requested reimbursement rate for the total EU Contribution exceeds the maximum co-financing
rate;
The EU grant requested is lower than the minimum amount or higher than the maximum amount
specified in the call for proposals, if applicable.
The error message will disappear once corrected.
4.9 Rationale: The Commission may request the detailed rationale at any time before, during or after the
project implementation. While the budget table does not require the rationale behind the costs, the
amounts indicated by the Applicant should reflect a detailed and accurate estimation. This should be based
on the relevant rules of cost eligibility contained in the Annex on Financial Provisions and the grant
agreement.
4.10 Consistency: The estimated direct costs indicated in Part B must be consistent with those in the Budget for
the proposal, Part A of the application. This is because the Electronic Submission system does not provide a
reconciliation function across the different budget tables within the application. Therefore, the Applicant is
responsible for ensuring consistency of the information provided throughout the application.
4.11 Template: A detailed budget template (see ''Topic conditions and documents'' on the Funding & Tender
Opportunities portal) is provided by the Commission to facilitate the planning of your project's budget. This
template is not mandatory and you do not need to upload it with the application.
135. Project Application Form (Part B)
5.1 Part B covers the technical content of your proposal and the description of activities the Applicant (and
Partners) will undertake to deliver the project. Applicants must use the editable enabled Word document
template provided by the Commission for the proposal (text can be entered only under the non-protected
fields).
5.2 The Commission reserves the right to reject any proposal not drafted in the mandatory template. Once
completed, you must convert the file into a PDF and upload it to the Electronic Submission system.
5.3 Proposal constraints:
Page limit: 45 pages (excess pages are disregarded and will not be evaluated)
Supporting documents can be provided as an annex and do not count towards the page limit
Font size: Arial, minimum 8 points
Recommended characters (with spaces) for each section are provided
Page size: A4
Margins: (top, bottom, left and right): at least 15 mm (not including headers & footers)
N.B. Applicants must respect all the above-mentioned formatting constraints. They are not allowed to modify
the Part B template to shorten it, for example remove the cover page, table of contents, descriptions of sub-
titles (these descriptions are also useful for the evaluators who will evaluate the proposal), use a smaller font
size or reduce the margins.
5.4 The template for Part B consists of five sections that are fundamental to writing a good proposal. Some
questions are of a broad nature to allow Applicants to describe the project in a way that best suits and
demonstrates the strengths of their proposal. Applicants however should always aim to be as detailed and
specific as possible. They should avoid including irrelevant information, for example, business as usual
activities and information not directly linked with the proposal.
5.5 For detailed instructions on how to complete Part B of the proposal, please review the mandatory template
below. Under each heading, you will find a detailed description and/or note explaining what content is
required. This part of the proposal is detailed and structured to ensure that Applicants provide a concrete
description of what they are going to do. A summary for each section has been provided below.
SECTIONS 1, 2 AND 3: PROJECT SUMMARY, BACKGROUND & NEEDS ASSESSMENT, RELEVANCE AND
PROJECT APPROACH
5.6 Section 1, 2 and 3 require you to submit a summary of your project, the rationale behind your project, your
project objectives, and its relevance to the call, how you will approach it (i.e. the methodology), add value
to the European Union, and work with your partners to ensure effective implementation. It also includes
how you will do this cost effectively.
14SECTION 4: ACTIVITIES AND WORK PACKAGES
5.7 The Applicant is required to provide specific activities that will take place to achieve the overall goal and the
main project objectives (as specified in Section 1 and 2). These activities should be grouped together in a
logical, consistent and structured way under individual Work Packages.
5.8 All work packages must present a clear, logical link to the objectives of the project and to the other work
packages. Each work package constitutes a sub-project i.e. a systematic breakdown of your project as a
whole. It enables evaluators to clearly see what deliverables will be produced, at what stage, and how the
Applicant will organise this work.
5.9 The Applicant can decide how they should group the work packages and how many they need. However,
each project needs to have a minimum of 2 work packages (maximum 5); details specified in Table 2 below.
N.B. This does not imply that a project with only 2 work packages will result in a low score. The division in work
packages should be logical and guided by the different deliverables of activities.
The Applicants should also indicate estimated costs of each work package by cost category (in EUR) and
estimated human efforts4per each work package, calculated in person/months. This information must be
coherent with the information on direct personnel costs in the Budget Overview Table in part A.
Table 2: Work Package descriptions
Work Package 1 The Applicant should enter all activities related to the general management and coordination of the
project in this work package. The Applicant can also include activities that do not relate specifically to
Management and
any of the work packages leading to a specific result, but which are directly linked to the project as a
Coordination
whole.
Activities
Applicants are advised to limit the management and coordination costs to those necessary for the
implementation of the project and focus the expenditure of the project on the activities necessary to
achieve the specific project results.
Work Packages 2-5 For each of these work packages you must identify in detail the objective(s), the activities to be
implemented, and the deliverable(s). Deliverables can be tangible (e.g. manuals, reports etc.) or
Deliverables related to
intangible (conferences, seminars etc.). The type of deliverables depends on the project.
the objectives of the
project Your deliverables and activities must be as specific as possible e.g. include the title/content of a seminar
etc. Quantitative information should support these activities e.g. number of seminars and participants
due to attend.
They should also be realistic i.e. include relevant and appropriate deliverables which can be produced
with the amount of resource available, within the project duration. It is important that the scope of the
4Indicative calculation method for the estimation of effort: If 1 year = 220 (working) days, then 1 month = 220/12= 18,33 (working)
days. So 24 full working days for one person would be 24/18.33= 1,31 person/months.
15project is large enough to make a difference. However, this does not mean a work package needs an
excessively high number of deliverables, but quality ones instead.
N.B. The information on the deliverables must be consistent with the information in Annex 3 – Indicators
(see more information in next section).
SECTION 5: PARTICIPANTS, PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND ETHICS
5.10 In this section, three pertinent areas are covered. The questions on participants seek to understand how
the partners will work together and divide the workload.
5.11 Secondly, Applicants are expected to demonstrate how they will ensure sound project management
disciplines (incl. risk management, monitoring progress and evaluation) are followed throughout the life of
the project. This also includes how they will sustain the results post project closure.
5.12 Subsequent to this, any ethical issues Applicants may encounter must be identified at this stage, and
Applicants must explain how they will adhere to ethics and solve any ethical issues, and how they will apply
gender mainstreaming and child protection policy.
SECTION 6: DECLARATIONS
5.13 This section is for the Applicants to declare if they (or any of their partners) are receiving EU funding for
projects covered by the same or other policy areas.
ANNEXES
5.14 To support the application, Applicants shall submit the following annexes.
5.14.1 Annex 1: Curriculum Vitae (mandatory)
Applicants must include the CVs for the core project team (applicant and partners).
Applicants should merge and submit CVs as one document in PDF format, and then upload it to the
Electronic Submission System as Annex 1. Maximum page limit is 100 pages; excess pages are blanked
out.
It is recommended that CVs use the EUROPASS CV format (but not mandatory). Organisations may
submit these CVs in another format.
In case key personnel have not been recruited yet, the description of the profile or job description can
be provided instead.
5.14.2 Annex 2: Annual Activity Report for the last available year (mandatory except for public bodies)
The Annual Activity Report (AAR) should describe the activities of the Applicant in the year preceding
the year of application (or the last year available) for the lead Applicant only. If the AAR for year prior to
16the application is yet to be approved, the Applicant can submit the AAR for the previous year or a draft
version of the report certified by the legal representative of the organisation.
If no such document exists, the Applicant should draft an AAR (certified by the legal representative of
the organisation). The report should be detailed enough to enable the Commission to validate the
organisation’s aims and activities, as well as to assess operational and professional capacity.
The AAR must be uploaded in PDF format into the Electronic Submission system as Annex 2.
The AAR is not required if the lead Applicant is a public body (i.e. a body governed by public law, e.g.
public authorities at local, regional or national level, public universities) or an international organisation.
If the AAR is available on the Applicant’s website, a link to the document(s) should be provided on a
separate document, and uploaded in PFD format to the Electronic Submission System as Annex 2. A
general link to the Applicant’s website is not sufficient and they must ensure that the links to AAR are
correct.
N.B. The AAR is not a request for an annual financial report (financial statements, such as Balance sheet
or Profit and loss account).
5.14.3 Annex 3: Indicators (quantitative reporting) (mandatory)
Applicants must use the indicators excel template provided. Once the excel file is complete, it should be
converted to PDF format and uploaded to the Electronic Submission system. The indicators are mainly
quantitative and should focus on the final deliverables of your activities.
The activities that will be implemented may fall under more than one or all categories; please see all
categories in Table 3 (see below). It is not mandatory to include information under all categories; only
those that are relevant to your project.
You should count each deliverable only once. If you consider that a deliverable meets the criteria of
more than one category, you should count it under the category that is most relevant to its objectives.
You should be as specific as possible (e.g. in defining types of reports, groups of professionals etc.).
Drop-down menus are provided for indicating the different types of reports/events/material or the
groups of persons. These categories should be able to cover most types of deliverables produced by your
project. You should try to identify the most relevant category for each deliverable.
You should avoid abbreviations, unless commonly used.
You should be realistic in the level of your ambition: a successful application does not require
deliverables under each type of activity; neither should the number of these deliverables be excessively
high.
You should not count in this part reports and meetings of purely internal nature, i.e. those necessary for
the management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the project (this information should be
17included in Part B not the Annex). Interim and final reports requested by the Commission as part of the
reporting on the implementation of your Grant Agreement should not be included here.
18Table 3: Indicator Categories
1. Analytical Activities 2. Training Activities 3. Mutual learning, exchange of goods, 4. Awareness-raising, information and
cooperation dissemination
Indicate the type of documents/reports Specify all formal training activities you will The aim of these events differ from the These events should focus on raising
produced by your project provide i.e. results in one training outcome second category because they are about awareness, providing and disseminating
e.g. knowledge transfer or working tools participants coming together to share and information, i.e. spreading a specific
Specify the type of document using
and skills to a specific cohort. learn different practices from each other. message or piece of information to the
the drop down menu. The options
wider public or to a specific cohort (where
provided should cover all types of Include the number of: Include the number of:
appropriate).
documents
• training events organised (under 2.1 • events organised (under 3.1 in Annex
Include the number of:
in Annex 3 template); 3 template);
If you cannot find the type of • events organised (under 4.1 in Annex
document in the dropdown menu, • participants to be trained per group 3 template);
• participants per group (under 3.2 in
you may provide additional
(under 2.2 in Annex 3 template); Annex 3 template) – should be more
information in second column • groups/persons reached including
focused and limited;
N.B. The title of the report is irrelevant. • practical training packages that the name of the group (under 4.2 in
include specific tools & methods • total eligible countries from which Annex 3 template);
N.B. Do not include documents/reports for
that can be used for training the participants come from. The
internal use as e.g. seminar report.
purposes outside the organisation eligible countries are identified in • types of material you will produce to
(under 2.3 in Annex 3 template). the call topic conditions (under 3.3 raise awareness e.g. leaflets (under
in Annex template); 4.3 in Annex 3 template).
N.B. If there are multiple sessions with the
same content and group of people, it counts N.B. Each event with the same content
as one activity (this includes if the session Under 3.4 in Annex template, you should be counted as one, regardless of
lasts for more than one day). should record (if applicable) any how many days this event may last.
results from these events that will
N.B. Training packages that have the same be continued after the project ends. N.B. If you organise an awareness raising
content but are in different languages count These results should be concrete campaign in many countries, you should
as one document. and tangible. count each country campaign separately.
N.B. If there are multiple events with the
same content and group of people, it counts
as one activity (this includes if the session
lasts for more than one day).
175.14.1 Annex 4: Child Protection policy (if applicable)
Applicants and partners who will have direct contacts with children under the project must provide their
child protection policies. The applicant shall submit the child protection policies as Annex 4. As Annex 4
is one document only, all child protection polices shall be compiled (scanned) into this one document.
A child protection policy should include standards that cover four broad areas:
1) Policy: how the organisation is committed to preventing, protecting and responding to, harm to
children
2) People: clear responsibilities and expectations on its staff and associates and supports them to
understand and act in line with these,
3) Procedures: the organisation creates a child-safe environment through implementing child
safeguarding procedures that are applied across the organisation
4) Accountability: the organisation monitors and reviews its safeguarding measures. What are the
mechanisms in place within the organisation.
A child protection policy should include clear information about the recruitment of all staff – including
trainees and volunteers, including background checks (vetting).
A child protection policy must include clear procedures and rules to staff, including reporting rules, and
continuous training on this should be in place.
The child protection policy should be available online, i.e. transparent to all those who come in contact
with the organisation.
More information on these areas can be found in "Child safeguarding standards and how to implement
them" issued by Keeping Children Safe5.
Child protection policies will be evaluated under the operational capacity criteria.
5.14.2 Annex 5: Letter of support (if applicable)
Depending on the call for proposals, support letters from public authorities may be mandatory or
optional. Please check the topic conditions on the call webpage/the call document.
A letter of support shall add value to the project. For example, letters of support from public authorities
add value to the quality and/or sustainability of a project.
If letters of support are not mandatory, they are nevertheless accepted, whether from a public authority
or from other entities.
Including a letter of support from a third party means the Applicant commits that the services referred
to in the letter will be provided (without costs).
There are no templates available for letters of support.
5 https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/standards_child_protection_kcsc_en_1.pdf
186. Evaluation of proposals
6.1 An evaluation committee consisting of Commission staff and possibly external experts will evaluate
proposals.
6.2 The proposals will be evaluated against the evaluation criteria set out in the Topic Conditions of the call. In
most cases, compliance with the admissibility, eligibility and exclusion criteria will be assessed first.
However, the evaluation committee reserves the right to follow a different order of assessments.
6.3 In addition to complying with the criteria above, proposals are subject to verification of operational and
financial capacity i.e. selection criteria.
6.4 A short summary for each of these areas are provided below. However, for more information on the
admissibility, eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria, please refer to the topic specific conditions for the
call in Participant Portal (as this could differ between calls).
ADMISSIBILITY CRITERIA
6.5 These are minimum formal requirements, which an application must respect to be declared admissible.
Admissibility criteria allow to check compliance with the administrative requirements of each call,
independently of the contents and quality of project applications. Failure to comply with these
requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
6.6 Eligibility criteria are detailed under Topic specific conditions of each call webpage on the Participant Portal.
Applicants and partners must be legally constituted as a public, private in an eligible country participating to
the call in the Justice and REC Programme, or international organisations. Natural persons (private
individuals, including with a VAT number) are not allowed to submit applications.
6.7 Bodies set up by the European Union falling under Article 70 of the Financial Regulation (EU bodies and
institutions) are not eligible for funding and cannot submit applications. To prove the eligibility
requirements, Applicants (and partners) will have to upload documents showing the organisations' legal
status in the Participant Register.
EXCLUSION CRITERIA
6.8 Organisations (applicants and partners) will be excluded from participating in any call for proposals if they
are in any of the situations outlined in the topic specific conditions. These situations mainly concern
bankruptcy, insolvency, fraud, criminal activities and professional conduct.
19SELECTION CRITERIA
Financial capacity
6.9 The aim of this is to check whether the Applicants and Partners have sufficient financial resources to carry
out the activities described in Part B of the application. The Research Executive Agency (REA) will evaluate
the financial capacity of Applicants and Partners.
Operational capacity
6.10 The Applicant and the partners must have sufficient operational and professional capacities to implement
the activities outlined in Part B of the application. Organisations participating in several projects shall have
sufficient operational capacity to implement multiple projects in parallel.
6.11 Annex 1 (CVs), Annex 2 (annual Activity Report) and, if applicable (for projects with direct contact with
children) Annex 4 (child protection policy) will be used to assess the operational capacity of the Applicant
and partners. Therefore, it is obligatory for Applicants to upload these annexes.
6.12 Every organisation participating in a project shall adhere to the values mentioned in Article 2 of the Treaty
on European Union (TEU): respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and the
respect for human rights, including the rights of the persons belonging to minorities. These values are
common to the Member States in a society where pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice,
solidarity and equality between women and men prevail. They are mentioned in Article 2 of the Treaty of
the EU, Article 21 of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights.
6.13 Article 21 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights states that any discrimination based on any ground such
as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other
opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation shall be
prohibited. Any discrimination on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.
6.14 Article 3 of the Justice Programme and the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme refers to the
equality and the rights of persons as enshrined in the TEU, in the TFEU, in the Charter and in the
international human rights conventions to which the Union has acceded.
6.15 Applicants may not be awarded a grant if they fail to demonstrate that they have the necessary capacity,
experience and expertise to implement successfully the proposed activities.
AWARD CRITERIA
6.16 The award criteria (see topic specific conditions) aim to ensure that the proposals selected are of a high
quality, and contribute as much as possible to the priorities of the call in a cost-effective manner. The
Commission seeks to find synergies and avoid duplication between Union programmes.
6.17 The proposals evaluated against the award criteria in the call for proposals will be ranked according to their
scores and the list of the projects selected for award will be established based on the amount of budget
available.
20Minimum scores
6.18 Proposals will be rejected if they:
score below 18 points for the relevance criterion;
score below 70 points for the entire application (even if the available budget is not consumed fully).
Table 4 demonstrates how the sections in Part B of the application align with the award criteria set out in calls
for proposals. This is to help Applicants understand what criterion we will be looking at when evaluating your
responses for each section.
Table 4: Proposal sections and evaluation alignment
PART B – Proposal – Section Sub-sections Award Criteria
Section 1 - Project Summary Context & overall objectives, work Relevance to priorities of the call (25
planned & main achievements, points)
results & impacts Quality of the proposed action (30
Section 2 - Project background, points)
needs assessment & relevance Expected results, dissemination,
Section 3 - Project Approach 3.1 Objectives, impact & sustainability, long term impact (20
methodology points)
3.2 Cost-effectiveness Cost-effectiveness (10 points)
3.3 European added value EU added value (15 points)
Section 4 - Activities and work 4.1 Work Package 1 Quality of the proposed action (30
packages 4.2 Work Packages 2-5 points)
4.3 Timetable Cost-effectiveness (10 points)
Section 5 - Participants & 5.1 Participants Selection criteria – Operational
project management capacity
5.2 Project management Quality of the proposed action (30
points)
5.3 Dissemination, communication & Expected results, dissemination,
visibility sustainability, long term impact (20
points)
5.4 Ethics & security Quality of the proposed action (30
points)
5.5 Sustainability & continuation Expected results, dissemination,
sustainability, long term impact (20
points)
Section 6 - Declarations 6.1 Other EU Funding Relevance to priorities of the call (25
points)
21EVALUATION RESULTS
6.19 The Commission will inform Applicants of the results of the evaluation once completed i.e. a maximum of
six months after the deadline of the call. The successful Applicants of selected projects for award will be
invited to prepare a Grant Agreement.
N.B. The Commission can withdraw its proposal to sign grant agreement at any time until an agreement has
been signed. In addition to this, the Commission cannot give a prior opinion on the outcome of the call
before the evaluation is completed.
6.20 Applicants whose applications are not selected will receive a letter from the Commission stating the
reasons for the rejection.
6.21 The Commission may set up a reserve list in addition to the list of successful Applicants. Proposals placed
on the reserve list (which have met the minimum scores for the award criteria) could be funded if the
budget is available (e.g. in case an Applicant who has been selected withdraws its proposal).
227. Roles and Responsibilities towards the Commission
7.1 This section explains the roles and responsibilities for those involved in the implementation process. All
beneficiaries have full responsibility for implementing the action and complying with the grant agreement.
The beneficiaries are therefore responsible for the technical implementation of the action as described in
Part B (project description and implementation) of the proposal, which will become an annex to the grant
agreement, if selected for funding.
7.2 If a beneficiary fails to implement its part of the action, the other beneficiaries become responsible for
implementing this part, unless the Commission expressly relieves them of this obligation. Article 25 of the
Multi-Beneficiary Grant Agreement (MGA) governs the financial responsibility of each beneficiary.
7.3 When applying for an Action Grant, different entities can be involved in a project. These are as follows:
The COORDINATOR (APPLICANT) must:
Monitor the action and ensure it is implemented properly (see Article 7 of MGA);
Act as an intermediary for all communications between the beneficiaries and the Commission (in
particular, providing the Commission with the information described in Article 12 of MGA), unless the
MGA specifies otherwise;
Request and review any documents or information required by the Commission and verify their
completeness and correctness before passing them on to the Commission;
Compile and submit the deliverables and reports to the Commission (see Articles 14 and 15 of MGA);
Ensure that all payments are made to the other beneficiaries without delay, unless justified (see Article 16
of MGA);
Inform the Commission of the amounts paid to each beneficiary, when required in the MGA (see Articles
28 and 34) or requested by the Commission;
Not delegate the above-mentioned tasks to any other beneficiary or subcontract them to a third party
under the Justice and REC programmes. They remain fully responsible for the coordination tasks (see
Model Grant Agreement).
The BENEFICIARIES (PARTNERS) must:
Keep information stored in the Participant Register up to date (see Article 12 of MGA);
Inform the coordinator immediately of any events or circumstances that are likely to affect significantly, or
delay the implementation of the action (see Article 12 of MGA); Submit the following to the coordinator in
good time:
o Individual financial statements for itself and, if required, certificates on the financial statements
(see Article 15 of MGA);
o The data needed to draw up the technical reports (see Article 15 of MGA);
23o Ethics committee opinions and notifications or authorisations for activities raising ethical issues,
if applicable; and
o Any other document(s) or information requested by the Commission under the MGA, unless the
MGA requires the beneficiary to submit this information directly to the Commission.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Beneficiaries must comply with the principles and rules as set out by the EU Financial Regulation, and
most importantly provisions under Title VIII (Grants).
Financial provisions and rules relating to the eligibility of costs in the framework of actions grants, for the
Justice and REC Programmes, are described in the Annex on Financial Provisions.
The SUBCONTRACTORS:
Are not party to the grant agreement i.e. they do not have a contractual relationship with the
Commission.
If subcontractors are necessary to implement the action, the beneficiaries may award contracts to
implement certain tasks of the co-financed project as described in the proposal.
In this event, the Applicant must justify this working method in the Part B - Project Description and
Implementation Form (see Article 10 of MGA on rules for subcontracting action tasks).
Note:
The partnership should not change after the submission of a project proposal, unless otherwise instructed by
the Commission.
Under the Justice and REC programmes, entities affiliated to an Applicant/Partner are not considered as
Partners, unless indicated as such, and therefore their costs are not eligible.
248. Contact and Assistance
8.1 IT helpdesk: Applicants can contact the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal IT helpdesk for questions
related to the online submission tool only. For example, forgotten passwords, access rights and roles,
technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. Requests must be submitted via the Helpdesk contact
form.
8.2 Non-IT related questions: DG Justice and Consumers helpdesk can be contacted by e-mail:
Justice programme: EC-JUSTICE-CALLS@ec.europa.eu
REC Programme: EC-REC-CALLS@ec.europa.eu
8.3 Please do not contact the Helpdesk before having tried to find the information in the documentation
provided. Please ensure you have exhausted all the options before contacting the Helpdesk.
8.4 To ensure efficient handling of any enquiry please indicate clearly the reference of the relevant call for
proposals in the subject of your e-mail.
8.5 Questions will be answered as soon as possible. However, questions received later than 7 calendar days
before the deadline for submitting applications will not be responded to.
8.6 The Commission may publish any additional information throughout the call period that is relevant to calls
and topics, such as responses to frequently asked questions (FAQ). Applicants should consult the Funding &
Tender Opportunities Portal, and in particular, the topic/call webpage regularly.
8.7 The Commission may contact the Applicant should they need clarification or information during the
evaluation of the proposal. Such contact will be initiated via e-mail to the contact person indicated under
Section 2 of the Submission Form Part A. Requests from the Commission must be answered within a
deadline of three working days. Please make sure that the e-mail address in the Part A is correct.
8.8 Finally, please be aware that submitting your proposal can take some time even if you have all the necessary
information ready at hand. Do not wait until the deadline to start the online submission process. We advise
you to complete your proposal sufficiently in advance to avoid any last minute problem.
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